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Scolari, Brazil missing home comforts

Luiz Filipe Scolari says he would rather Brazil play warm-up matches at home as they prepare for yet another promotional friendly.

Brazil meet Russia at Stamford Bridge on Monday, with west London their latest stop on the long road to the FIFA World Cup finals on home soil next year.

Scolari, brought in for his second spell in charge following the sacking of Mano Menezes in November, believes the team are gradually improving under his leadership.

But the man who led Brazil to glory in the 2002 World Cup has expressed his regret over the decision to sell the first-team's rights to playing friendlies in their South American home, with higher profit margins generated by taking their brand on the road.

"The pressure is not less or higher in Brazil," Scolari said.

"What happens is we play away so much because the company that has the rights to promote these friendlies with Brazil prefers us to play away.

"We would prefer to play more in Brazil rather than abroad, but we have this agreement to not play in Brazil."

Scolari said he was continuing to assess the considerable talents at his disposal, with more than 60 players due to be considered for national team selection.

"I'm quite happy with it because I think we are improving a little by little," he said.

"I believe maybe in four months' time when we have played the Confederations Cup we will have already observed more than 60 players for the World Cup and we may have an idea which ones are going to be the ones (to make the final squad).

"At the moment I can't say much because with only two games we're still trying to organise everything."

Scolari claimed to be happy to be back at Chelsea - where he spent just six months in charge in 2008/09 - and believes his record was better than is widely perceived.

When asked if he could have won silverware had not been sacked, Scolari was noncommittal.

"I can't say because my time at Chelsea wasn't as bad as people have been talking about ... the numbers show that the games we won and the numbers don't lie," he said.

"We were third in the Premier League, we had qualified for the FA Cup, for the next stage of the Champions League, so I don't think it was that bad, but I can't really tell if I would have won something or not."